1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to the field of liquid cooled engines, and more specifically to a fluid storage/overflow tank such as an engine coolant tank that stores a fluid such as an engine coolant and that employs a provision for removably coupling an oil stick tube to the fluid tank.
2. Description of the Prior Art
Liquid cooled engines are known that employ fluid fill reservoirs or tanks such, but not necessarily limited to, coolant tanks. Some of these fluid fill reservoirs/tanks are manufactured using a rotational molding process familiar to those skilled in the art. Efforts have been made to centralize the location of engine maintenance features such as, for example, the fluid fill reservoir/tank and the oil fill/dip stick tube. One such effort is depicted in FIG. 1 that shows a liquid cooled engine assembly 10 that employs such a coolant tank 12. The coolant tank 12 has an orifice 14 configured to accept insertion of an oil stick tube 16. The aforementioned rotational molding process allows for provision of an orifice that wraps completely around (i.e., 360°) the oil stick tube 16 following insertion of the oil stick tube 16. Although such fluid fill reservoirs/tanks have provided advancements in the art, these known fluid fill reservoirs/tanks are not the most advantageous in terms of manufacturing costs or in terms of engine assembly maintenance capabilities. For example, removing the fluid fill reservoir/tank for replacement also requires removal of the oil fill tube, thus also requiring disassembly of oil fill tube hose clamps. Also, rotational molding processing has limitations that limit the complexity of the tank structure during the molding process.
Accordingly, it would be both beneficial and advantageous if a fluid fill reservoir/tank could be provided having a provision for an oil stick tube that does not require removal of the oil stick tube from an engine assembly upon removal of the fluid fill reservoir/tank from the engine assembly. It would be further beneficial if the fluid fill reservoir/tank structure could be manufactured having features not available when using a rotational molding process.